Who is more likely to get active TB disease?
You are at a greater risk of developing active TB disease if your body’s defence system gets weak. The following conditions can weaken your body’s defence system: • HIV infection and AIDS (increases your risk of TB disease from 10 per cent over a lifetime to 10 per cent each year); • organ transplants (because the patient is treated with immunity-suppressing drugs); • a type of lung disease called silicosis; • chronic kidney failure requiring dialysis; • cancer of the head and neck; • having been infected with TB bacteria within the past two years; • a chest x-ray showing signs of old TB; • treatment with steroids known as glucocorticoids; • treatment with tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha inhibitors (e.g., for auto-immune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis); • diabetes mellitus (all types); • being underweight (for most people, this is a body mass index equal to or less than 20); • being under five years of age when first infected with the TB bacteria; and • cigarette smoking (on
